1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a hinge device and, more particularly, to a hinge device having a plurality of axes to allow a central axis of a folder to move with respect to a plurality of hinge axes during rotation of the folder in a portable terminal and a connection member having the plurality of axes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A portable terminal generally refers to an apparatus which a user can carry with him/her to perform wireless communication with a desired partner. Conventional portable terminals may be classified into various types according to their appearance, such as bar-type terminals, flip-type terminals, folder-type terminals, etc. A bar-type terminal has a single housing shaped like a bar. A flip-type terminal has a flip which is rotatably combined with a bar-shaped housing by a hinge device. A folder-type terminal has a folder coupled to a single bar-shaped housing by a hinge device in a manner that the folder can rotate in a direction towards or away from the housing.
In addition, portable terminals may be classified into rotation-type terminals and sliding-type terminals according to ways of opening and closing the terminals. In a rotation-type terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing rotates to be opened or closed with respect to the other while the housings face each other. In a sliding-type terminal, two housings are coupled to each other in a manner that one housing slides to be opened or closed with respect to the other. These variously classified portable terminals can be easily understood by those skilled in the art.
Portable terminals are typically light and compact for portability and are convenient only in voice or video communication with a partner.
Although multimedia availability of portable terminals has been emphasized with diversification of mobile communication services, the shapes of portable terminals are limited to folder types and sliding types. In addition, users' tastes have become diversified with widespread use of portable terminals, but conventional shapes of portable terminals cannot satisfy users' various tastes.
To solve this problem, display rotation-type portable terminals have been developed.
In a display rotation-type portable terminal, a display device of a folder rotates to allow the user to view moving pictures and videos on a wide screen.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional display rotation-type portable terminal includes a main body housing 10 having first hinge axis A1, a folder 20, and a connection member 30. Various key buttons 11 and a microphone 12 are mounted in the main body housing 10. The connection member 30 connects the main body housing 10 with the folder 20 so the folder 20 can rotate with respect to the hinge axis A1 in a direction towards or away from the main body housing 10. The connection member 30 provides a second hinge axis that is perpendicular to the first hinge axis A1 and connects the folder 20 with the main body housing 10 so the folder 20 can rotate while facing the connection member 30. The folder 20 includes a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 21 as a display device and a speaker 22.
However, in a conventional display rotation-type portable terminal, when the folder is opened with respect to the first hinge axis to rotate the display device of the folder, a rotation space D1 is required between the main body housing and the folder to allow the end of a corner of the rectangular display device to rotate. Moreover, the display rotation axis of the folder is positioned in the center of the folder, generating the unnecessary rotation space. Furthermore, as size of the rotation space D1 increases with an increase in the size of the display device, the size of the portable terminal also increases, hindering miniaturization of the portable terminal.
As the size of the display device increases, the rotation axis is positioned in an upper portion of a main body. If the portable terminal is then placed on the ground, the folder can easily fall.